Voters pass most South Jersey school budgets

In a huge shift from last year, when nearly 70 percent of South Jersey school budgets went down in defeat, regional voters endorsed nearly that many spending plans on Wednesday's ballot.

New Jersey's overall approval rate was even higher. Nearly 80 percent of the 538 base budgets put before voters across the state were accepted, according to the New Jersey School Boards Association.

That's a far cry from last year, when only 31 percent of the budgets put to voters in Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties passed. In something of a taxpayers' revolt, only 41 percent of budgets statewide were approved in 2010 - the lowest rate since 1976. In 2009, about 73 percent of the budgets passed.

Observers attributed the year-over-year change to several factors. For one thing, there was a new 2 percent cap on how much more property taxes could be levied in a district, down from the previous 4 percent. Heeding last year's widespread voter disapproval, officials in most districts sought to keep to or even go below the cap whenever possible.

In addition, many district leaders increased their efforts to get their message out to voters, especially after last year's painful reductions to staff and programs due to deep state aid cuts. Many defeated budgets were trimmed even further at the municipal level.

It appears both the districts and the voters got their points across.

"School boards were sensitive to the impact of the current economy on members of their communities," said Raymond R. Wiss, president of the school boards' association. "Voters indicated that they believe local school board members have done an effective job in addressing these concerns."

Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said many parents had to come up with money for fees to keep student activities going, and this year, he noted, Gov. Christie was "quieter." Last year, Christie encouraged voters to oppose budgets in districts where teachers had not taken pay freezes, he noted.

"There wasn't as much rhetoric, so people were able to make a fair assessment of what the budgets provided for their communities," Bozza said.

A spokesman for Christie, who voted in his own local election, said Wednesday's outcome showed that "the governor's 2 percent cap" worked.

The election's results, he added, are a "signal to those individuals, particularly Democrats in the Legislature, who hold fast to the old ways of taxing and spending, that the public wants these controls in place instead of the freewheeling days that contributed to a 70 percent increase in property taxes in 10 years."

Christie often has chastised the Democratic-led Legislature for not passing more of his so-called tool kit of tax and fiscal reforms.

Spokesmen for both the state Senate and Assembly majorities countered that the Democratic-led Legislature passed the 2 percent cap and deserves the credit.

"This governor and this governor alone is responsible for giving New Jerseyans their highest property tax hike in four years," Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester said. "He can blame others all he wants, but he's the one who decimated school and municipal aid, slashed and eliminated rebates, and presented a plan that fiscal analysts found did nothing to combat property taxes."

The 2 percent cap was a compromise between the sides, passed in the summer in 2010.

School leaders, by comparison, approached this budget session in a conciliatory manner. Most were careful what they asked for, and that seemed to have registered with voters.

Statewide there were only 11 "second" ballot questions - measures to go above the 2 percent levy cap for staff or programs. Not so many years ago, there would have been scores of them. Of the 11, eight were approved. Those included $99,277 to establish full-day kindergarten in Burlington's Springfield Township and $405,275 to restore middle school and freshman athletics and support other student activities in Gloucester County's Kingsway Regional district.

Out of eight school construction referendums, five passed, including one that will fund new bleachers at the Riverside district's athletic field, which is used by the schools and the community. The old bleachers were deemed a safety and liability risk.

Superintendent Robert Goldschmidt said he was gratified by the vote, noting that the base budget was under the cap.

In the Swedesboro-Woolwich district in Gloucester County, officials and community leaders managed to persuade voters to approve a budget that went over the cap. Faced with greatly expanding enrollment and relatively static state aid, the district is cutting full-day kindergarten. Had the budget failed, class sizes would have ballooned and 10 teachers would have been cut.

"We are extremely thankful that our community supported us," said Victor Valeski, district superintendent. "We feel they understood the pressure we were under."

Of course, some budgets were defeated. Those will go to municipal officials for possible cuts.

Lenape Regional's budget did not pass this year, as well as last year.

"The defeated budget proposal is disappointing, especially in light of last year's dramatic decrease in funding," said Board of Education President William J. Bisignano Jr. He vowed to continue "putting the education of our students first."

Municipal officials have until May 19 to decide how much to reduce or to allow districts' proposed tax levies to stand, if they were defeated by voters. Districts then decide the actual budget cuts.

The state Department of Education did not provide overall voter turnout information, but unofficial local turnout figures tended to be lower than last year's - about 14 percent turnout in Gloucester County, nearly 18 percent in Burlington County, and about 11 percent in Camden County. Last year local turnout was between 20 percent and 22 percent - the highest since 2006. The overall state turnout in 2010 was around 27 percent, according to the state, compared with the more usual 15 percent to 17 percent.

"I had a funny feeling it might be low because there's been less hoopla this year," said Lora Lang of Cherry Hill.

Michelle Marabella, a Medford parent, cast her vote for the budget.

"I know the schools suffered a lot of cutbacks last year, and they pared back, and I don't think they can reasonably pare back anymore without the schools being hurt and without affecting the children," Marabella said.

Ultimately in Medford, it was nay votes from people like Christine Powell, a social worker without children in the schools, that prevailed.

"I can't pay another dollar," Powell said.